Writing instrument



2,869,609 Patented Get. l5, 1957 WRITING INSTRUMENT Hugh L. Clary, San Marino, Paul B. Johnson, Los Angeles, and George E. Morgenroth, Downey, Calif., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Fie-Bail Pen Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Yori:

Application October 5, 1953, Seriai No. 383,9@ 3 Claims. (Cl. 1Z0-42.03)

This invention relates to writing instruments, and has particular reference to instruments wherein the writing tip is selectively advanced to writing position or retracted to a protected position within the barrel.

Although the invention is generally applicable to all forms of writing instruments having writing tips, it is particularly applicable to ball point pens. Such pens include a ball writing tip which, when the pen is pocketed, must be protected, either by placing a cap over the same, or by retracting the writing tip within the barrel of the pen. Retractable pens of the latter type have become very popular in view of their convenience, the fact that the ink does not have a tendency to drain away from the writing tip when the pen is pocketed, and the fact that a protective cap need not be removed and replaced before and following usage of the pen.

Although such retractable pens are generally satisfactory, users from time to time forget to retract the writing unit when placing the pen in their pocket, with the result that the ball writing tip will, through continual engagement with the sides of the pocket, tend to transfer enough ink to soil the users clothing. Also, such retractable pens generally include as part of the advancing and retracting mechanism, a pushbutton llocated at the upper end of the barrel which is eifective to advance the writing unit to writing position. When pocketing such a pen, it must be pressed downwardly to force the clip over the wall of the pocket, and in so doing, many persons press directly down on the pushbutton, with the result that the writing unit is advanced.

A principle object of the present invention is to automatically advance the writing tip of a writing instrument when the latter is removed from ones pocket, and to automatically retract the tip when pocketing the instrument.

Another object is to provide means for both automatically and manually advancing and retracting the writing tip of a writing instrument.

Another object is to facilitate a one-hand operation of a writing tip projecting-retracting control while holding the writing instrument by the same hand.

Another object is to provide a retractable pen wherein the ink reservoir may be of a maximum length.

A further object is to provide a projecting-retracting mechanism for a ball point writing instrument which is simple and economical to manufacture and assemble and as a minimum number of parts.

The manner in which theabove and other objects of the invention are accomplished will be readily understood upon reference to the following specification when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a longitudinal sectional view through a retractable pen embodying a preferred form of the invention and illustrating the writing unit in retracted position,

Fig. 2 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 1 but illustrating the writing unit advanced to writing position.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view similar to that of Fig. 2 but with parts broken away, illustrating the action of the clip when manually moved upward to latch-releasing position.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2 butwith parts broken away and showing the action of the wall of a pocket in releasing the writing unit latch during pocketing of the pen.

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 4, illustrating the writing unit in full retracted position.

Fig. 6V is a front View of the upper portion of the pen is taken in the direction of the arrow 6 of Fig. l.

Fig. 7 is a sectional View through the upper portion of a pen embodying a modified form of the invention and illustrating the writing unit in writing position.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 7 illustrating the writing unit in retracted position.

In the following specifications and claims the terms fore part and rear part or equivalent terminology, are intended to refer to the writing end and the opposite end, respectively, of the pen.

Referring in particular to Figs. 1 6, inclusive, the pen shown therein comprises a barrel formed in part by a hollow barrel section 11 of plastic material which tapers slightly in a forward direction. The barrel section 11 terminates in a hollow conical barrel tip 12 of metal. The latter is press-tit into the bore of the barrel section and forms a guide for the forward end of a writing unit generally indicated at 13.

The rear of the barrel section 11 is threaded onto a combined connector and bearing sleeve 14, the latter being press-fit into a thin rear barrel cap section 15 of metal. The wall thickness of the latter is preferably on the order of .O15 inch in thickness.

The writing unit 13 is slidably mounted both in the barrel tip 12 and in the bearing sleeve 14, and comprises a ball writing tip 16 rotatably mounted in a socket formed in the forward end of an ink-feeding section 17. The latter is integral at the rear end thereof with an ink reservoir tube 18.

The writing unit is urged rearwardly toward its retracted position shown in Fig. l by helical compression spring means 20 which surrounds the forward portion of the tube 18 and is seated between a shoulder on the upper end of the barrel tip 12 and an enlargement 21 formed on the tube 18 midway between its ends.

Thel tube 1S abuts at its rear end against the central portion of a U-shaped latch spring 22. One of the legs 23 of the latch spring slidably engages the inner surface of the cap portion 15V and moves along it when the writing unit is moved between its writing and retracted positions. The other leg 24 of the latch spring comprises latch means and camming means and for this purpose has a portion bent over at right angles to form a latching tip 25. The latching tip or latch 2S is engageable in an opening 26 in the side of the cap 15 in order to latch the writing unit in writing position. A camming projection 27 formed on the leg 24 extends outwardly to movel along an elongated slot 28 in the cap 15.

A pocket clip 30 is mounted on the barrel and is provided for attaching the pen to the wall of a pocket and to enable both automatic and manual advancement and retraction of the writing um't. The clip is 'mounted on the barrel for shiftable movement longitudinally thereof. For this purpose the upper end of the writing tip is formed to slidably engage the outer surface of the cap section 15 and is provided at its upper terminus with a guide ear 31 (see also Fig. 6) slidable along a vertical slot 32 in the cap section. A slot 33 is formed in the upper end of the clip to slidably embrace the cap section directly above an opening 39 in the wall. Means disposed in the barrel in the path of travel of the writing unit and actuated by the clip is operable to extend the writing unit upon shifting of the clip. Such means comprises a shelf 34 extending outwardly from a portion of the clip 30 and located inside the barrel section, and this shelf normally engages the upper end of the latch spring 22. The slots 32 and 39 in the barrel provide means for mounting and guiding the pocket clip for slidable movement on the barrel.

It will be noted that the clip has a concave formation normaliy lying in close proximity to and of the same contour as the outer surface of camming projection 27. The pocket clip 30 is also provided with a camming element 36. The camming projection 27 is disposed in the path of travel of camming element 36 during shifting of the pocket clip on the barrel. The camming projection 27 serves as means for releasing the latch upon shifting of the pocket clip. The slot 26 in the cap may be considered as means on the barrel for engaging the latch.

Assuming the pen to be in its retracted condition illustrated in Fig. V1, downward manual pressure against a serrated section of the clip will cause the latter to slide downwardly and cause the shelf 34 to force the latch 22 and writing Vunit 13 therealong until the latter reaches its writing position'. At this time the latching tip 25 Ywill engage the opening 26 of the cap section to latch the writing unit in position and the camming projection will move into engagement with the concave surface 35 of the clip.

1n order to retract the writing unit from the position shown in Fig. 2, the clip may be merely manually slid rearwardly towardits position shown in Fig. 3 by applying upward pressure to a serrated section 41 on the lower tip of the clip. During this movement a camming element 35 on the clip'engages the camming projection 27 ofthe latch, camming the latter inwardly into its position shown in Fig. 3, whereupon the spring 20 will become effective to retract the writing unit and latch.

The clip further provides a means for automatically causing retraction of the writing unit upon pocketing of the pen. Thus, as the clip is forced over the wall of the pocket, as shown in Fig. 4, the leading edge 37 will frictionally engage the under surface 42 of the lower tip of the clip and tend to move the clip rearwardly to a position wherein it will release the latch. If the fabric constituting the edge of the pocket is relatively thick, the lower end of the clip may be spread outwardly sufficiently to prevent the camming element 36 from contacting the camming projection 27. However, in such case the leading edge 37 of the fabric will, in itself, be effective to force the latch, through engagement with the camming projection 27, inwardly suicient to release the same. VAlthough the under surface 42 is normally smooth,

it may bek Toughened or serrated if desired to effect a better frictional engagement with the fabric wall of the pocket: Y

11n the eventV that the pen is pocketed in a garment having extremely thin fabric and in such a case that the frictional engagement between the clip and the fabric is not effective in itself to raise the clip to latch releasing position, the pen may be fully pocketed, whereupon the leading edge of the pocket wall 37 will engage the horizontalshoulder 38 formed by the upper portion of the clip, as shown in Fig. 5, thereby directely forcing the clip 'upwardly to latch-releasing position.

Having once pocketed the pen, withdrawal of the same will, normally, through the frictional engagement of the wall of the pocket with the clip, cause downward movement of the latter relative to the barrel suiciently to move the writing unit to its'advanced writing position. However, should the thickness of the fabric pocket wall and the frictional qualities of the fabric be such that the clip will not move relative to the barrel during withdrawal of the pen, the clip may be manually pressed downwardly in the aforementioned manner to advance the writing unit.

Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate a modified form of the invention in which the clip 30' is formed somewhat similar to the corresponding clip 30 of Figs. 1-6 but is of a springy nature-so that inward pressure in the direction of the arrow A (Fig. 8) will cause the same to yield, forcing a camming projection 36 thereon against the camming lobe 27' of the latchspring 22', so as to release the latch tip 2S from engagement with the opening 26 in the wall plied downward and upward movement, respectively, of

the clip 30' in the same manner as is effected by the clip 39.

Having thus described the invention, what we desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

i. A writing instrument comprising the combination of a barrel having a bore opening through its forward end and provided with a slot through its side wall; a writing assembly comprising a writing unit having a writing tip mounted within the bore for reciprocation to advance the tip through the forward end of the bore t0 writing position or withdraw the tip within the bore to a retracted position, spring means within the barrel coupled with the .vriting unit and exerting yielding tension thereupon to retract the same, and a spring latch within the barrel coupled with the writine unit for reciprocaticn therewith; said barrel having a latch portion, said latch having a latch part adapted to releasably engagesaid latch portion when the writing unit is advanced to writing position to releasabiy maintain the writing unit in such writing position, said spring latch also provided with a cam portion projecting through the side wall slot in the barrel and beyond the side wall of the barrel; and a pocket ciip supported upon the barrel for reciprocation thereover to advanced or retracted positions with respect thereto, said clip having a shelf portion extending into the barrel for engagement with the rearward facing portion of the writing assembly to advance the writing unit therewith to the writing position upon advance of the clip over u the barrel, said shelf portion being disengageable from Y clip to engage the cam portion of the spring latch projecting through the slot in the barrel and beyond the side wall thereof depressing said camming portion into the side wall slot and depressing the spring latch to disengage the latch part thereof from the latch portion of the barrel.

2. A writing instrument as defined in claim 1 characterized in that the clip spring is so shaped as to provide, in addition to its camming portion, a recessed p0rtion opposed to the siot in the wall of the barrel and adapted to receive the cam portion of the spring latch when the clip and the writing unit are both advanced and when they are both retracted.

3. A writing instrument as dened in claim 1 characterized in that the spring latch is depressible in response to the interposition of a pocket part between the cam portion of the spring latch and the clip spring to release the writing unit to retraction by its own spring, said writing unit adapted when released to be retracted by its spring as the clip part moves rearwardly away fromV the writing unit.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS 

